











Copyright If 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 


















CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


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CLOUD BOAT 
STORIES 

BY 

OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON 

«t 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
MILO WINTER 



BOSTON AND NEW YORK. 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
(ftbe Bitjer^iDe CambrlDge 




COPYRIGHT, I917, BY OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


Published September IQ17 


% 



SEP 26 1917 


©CI.A473715 



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CONTENTS 


I. The Cloud Boat i 

II. St. Ives and Seven Wives 13 

III. The Star of Humpty Dumpty .... 25 

IV. The Crooked Star 3 7 

V. Little Jack Horner. 49 

VI. A Visit to the April Fool 59 

VII. The Man in the Moon has a Show . . . 71 

VIII. The Sand Man’s Story 81 

IX. The Jack-o’-Lantern Star 93 

X. On the River 103 

XI. The Santa Claus Star 117 

XIL The South Wind 129 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The Cloud Boat ( Colored ) Frontispiece 

Back and forth 5 

An Imaginary Speck of Dust 10 

Almost crashing into it 17 

Some Funny Little Ladies 20 

The Flying Machine rose 30 

“The King's Jester made a Joke about a Blue-Bottle 

Fly” ( Colored ) facing 34 ^ 

It seemed a Hopeless Task 35 

“Good Gracious,” said Sand Man 43 

He was very Crooked 46 

Left, Right, — March 33 

A Little Man . . . brought in an Immense Christmas 
Pie 56 

It went sailing away 64 

He bounced right off 66 

Billy had such a Rousing Good Time ( Colored ) . facing 68 1 

“My Friend Mr. Moon” 77 


It happened to be Cinderella 


79 


Vlll 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Yellow Cap was having a Nap in a Bird’s Nest * 87 

“Johnny tripped and fell” 91 

A Jack-O'-Lantern, of course 96 

“They won’t let Peter get loose” . . . .100 

In the Cool Depths of the Water .... 108 

Let him ride their Sea Horses 114 

Santa Claus himself 122 

Everything you could think of 126 

“There goes North Wind” 133 

She took him on the most Wonderful Journey 

( Colored ) facing 136 

On a Big Pink Flamingo 136 

Through the Wide Gate where the Cloud Boat 

• 13 8 


WAS ANCHORED 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


I 

THE CLOUD BOAT 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


CHAPTER I 

THE CLOUD BOAT 

Nurse Reenie washed Billy’s face, hands, and 
knees, and brushed his hair until it was all smooth 
and shining, before she put on his snowy white 
pajamas. Of course he had had a fine bath in the 
big white bathtub in the afternoon, but somehow 
knees and hands will get dirty, especially if you 
have an Uncle Tom like Billy’s who plays bear 
with you and rolls you all over the floor after 
supper. And faces, too, gather up dirt quickly 
when the dessert is all fluffery sugary stuff that 
will stick in places, even though you ’re wiped 
and wiped with a big napkin after you are through 
eating. 

“Rock me, please,” pleaded Billy when Nurse 
Reenie took his hand and led him toward his little 
white bed, with soft pillows that looked like the 
islands on “floating-island” dessert. You know 
what that is, don’t you ? — smooth, sweet, yellow 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


4 

stuff with big, white, frothy things all over it that 
melt away in your mouth almost before you can 
taste them. Well, Billy’s pillows looked like that. 
They were so clean and downy you would won- 
der how he could ever wait to dig his little head 
into them. It really makes me yawn to talk about 
those lovely pillows. 

But Billy was like lots of other little boys. He 
did n’t like to be left all alone in bed while down- 
stairs he could hear Mamma and Daddy and 
Uncle Tom, and the company if there were any, 
laughing and enjoying themselves without him. 
It is not a very comfortable feeling to know that 
other people don’t miss you one weeny little bit, 
and can go ahead and talk and have a splendid 
time without you, while all the time you are ever 
so lonely in a quiet room upstairs. 

“Rock me, won’t you, please?” begged Billy 
again when they had almost reached the bed. 

“ Rock a big man like you, darlin’ ! Big men 
don’t get rocked. Just babies ! Billy ’s not a baby.” 

“ Please ! ” 

“ No, honey.” 

Suddenly Billy had an idea. “You forgot some- 
thing, Nursie. If I tell you, then will you rock 
me?” . 


THE CLOUD BOAT 


5 


“ Bless the lamb! What did I forget?” 

“ If I tell, then will you rock me ? ” 

“ Maybe, I ’ll see.” 

“ Promise.” 

Nurse Reenie smiled. “All right, honey, I 
promise. What did I forget?” 



6 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


“ My teeth! You didn’t brush them.” 

“Why, I did forget, didn’t I! Come along, 
then, dear, and we ’ll attend to the little white 
prancers. Then for a ride.” 

In a few minutes Billy was on Nurse Reenie’s 
comfortable big lap with her strong arms around 
him, swaying back and forth, back and forth, back 
and forth, the big rocker creaking cozily as Nursie 
sang: — 

" Little stars are winking 
’Long the milky way. 

Sandman comes a-blinking, 

’Cause it ’s bright as day. 

Kisses all the kiddies, 

Shuts their little eyes, 

Takes them off to Dreamland 
Up among the skies.” 

Once or twice Billy yawned. He was getting 
very sleepy. Back and forth, back and forth, 
went the big rocking-chair. How comfortable he 
was ! 

All at once he noticed something. He had 
thought he was quite alone, — except for Nurse, 
of course, — but now right beside him was a 
little man, not any bigger than Billy himself, 
dressed in a little green suit that fitted him snugly 
from his neck to his toes. It did n’t stop at the 


THE CLOUD BOAT 7 

knees as a little boy’s trousers do, nor even at his 
shoes like those of big men. Dear me, no ! It kept 
on going right out to the end of his toes and 
then some more, for there was a big point on each 
foot much longer than his toes could possibly be. 
The little man’s cap was green, too, and it cov- 
ered his head all over clear down to his neck, — all 
except his face, of course, — and on top was another 
long point like the ones on his feet. The point 
was flopping and flapping, this way and that, for 
the little man was bobbing his head at Billy with 
all his might as though he were trying to attract 
his attention. 

Billy sat up and looked very hard. Certainly 
this was the very funniest person he had ever seen, 
but as the little man kept nodding at him in such 
a friendly way the little boy nodded back. He was 
just going to ask the strange little man who he 
was, when suddenly he noticed the thing he was 
standing in. It was bright and white, and all 
through it were streaks of gold like the clouds on 
summer evenings that you see away up high in 
the sky about the time the sun is going to bed. 

Indeed, it was a cloud, he decided, a beautiful 
bright cloud that was shaped just like a boat, and 
it was rocking back and forth just like a real boat 


8 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


on wavy water. Billy knew because Uncle Tom 
had one that he took him riding in, out on the 
river ; and the little green man had oars, too, ex- 
actly like Uncle Tom’s, to make the boat go, — 
long pieces of wood with wide flat ends. 

Billy looked back at the little stranger, and this 
time he said politely, “ How ’do you do ! It ’s a 
fine day to be on the water, is n’t it? ” — just as 
he had heard people say to Uncle Tom when 
they could n’t think of anything else. 

“ This is n’t water. It ’s the sky,” corrected 
the green man quickly. “ But we ’ll come back 
to that again when we ’ve more time to talk. The 
thing just now is to get you out of this. Do you 
think we can manage ? Do you get sea-sick ? I 
mean do you get sky-sick? ” 

“ I don’t know. Is it anything like mumps?” 
asked Billy curiously. “ I ’ve had them.” 

“ Goodness, no ! ” declared the little man. “ But 
we ’ll not wait to talk about that either; there 
is no time just now, and after all it is no worse 
than rocking in a chair. If we don’t hurry, every 
single place will be shut up, even ‘ Wait-Awhile- 
Said-Slow’ will be gone. Here, give me your 
hand and hop in, won’t you? That’s the boy! 
Sit right there now and don’t move. I ’ll do all 


THE CLOUD BOAT 9 

the rowing.” And he helped Billy into the boat, 
where the little boy sank down into the softest, 
loveliest nest of cloud cushions that one could 
imagine. The rocking of the boat was very pleas- 
ant, indeed, it was so smooth and soothing. 

“The sky is just about right to-night,” went 
on the little man, giving a shove with one of his 
oars. “ We should have a pretty fine trip.” 

“To-night!” said Billy in surprise. “Why, I 
thought it was day. It’s all so bright.” 

“ It ’s dark away down on the earth, of course,” 
explained his host, “but we are up in the sky, 
remember, and the stars make it light up here 
all the time. By the way, I forgot to tell you my 
name. Very careless of me, but blame it on the 
hurry. I ’m Sand Man.” 

“Why, I thought — ” began Billy. 

“Yes, I know what you thought, that I was 
old and wrinkled and always dressed in an old 
brown coat, and carried a bag of sand over my 
shoulder. It ’s a shame the pictures they make 
of me in the books, enough to scare all the chil- 
dren to death ! Brown coat, indeed ! I hate 
brown.” And Sand Man flicked an imaginary 
speck of dust from his bright green suit with his 
middle finger and thumb. 


10 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

“ Oh ! ” cried Billy with awe. “Are you really 
Sand Man? And do you really put people to 
sleep, and are you — ” 

“There! There! We’re talking too much 
and we’ve really got to hurry. You are asking 



too many questions, too. But so you won’t be 
frightened I ’ll answer one of them. I do like 
little boys and girls very much. Do you think 
that if I did n’t I ’d bother giving you a nice ride 
like this? ” 

“ I don’t suppose you would! ” answered Billy. 

“No, siree. But I ’ve been keeping an eye on 


II 


THE CLOUD BOAT 
you lately, and I decided last Saturday a week 
ago that I was going to take you around with me 
a bit on some of my travels just because you are 
learning to do what you are told. That’s the 
kind of children / like.” 

“ Thank you ! ” said Billy. “Are we going on 
travels, did you say ? ” 

“Yes, if everything is all right. I just got my 
boat fixed, you know. It ’s been out of order for 
several days.” And Sand Man began to row 
through the sky for dear life. “ Mind you keep 
your hands inside and don’t look over the edge. 
We’re all safe enough if we don’t get caught on 
a star point and spring a leak. It takes careful 
steering to the star of St. Ives and Seven Wives. 
That is where we are going first because they 
have been teasing me to death to take you on a 
visit. They like you because Mother Goose has 
been talking to them about you and telling them 
how good you ’ve been. Indeed, I have several 
very pressing invitations for you, Billy, from the 
star folk. It looks to me as though Mrs. Goose’s 
tongue has been working as fast as her broom. 
Now, I can’t talk any more as I have to watch 
my boat.” 




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II 

ST. IVES AND SEVEN WIVES 


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CHAPTER II 

ST. IVES AND SEVEN WIVES 

All over the sky, right in the direction Sand 
Man’s boat was moving, were great patches of 
light — so very bright indeed that Billy had to 
blink like everything if he looked at any of them. 

Billy was very curious to know what they 
were, but Sand Man was busy with the oars 
making the cloud boat move along through the 
sky, so he thought he had better not ask any 
questions just then. 

But by and by, as they came quite close to 
one of the big shiny things, Sand Man suddenly 
reached into his pocket and held something out 
to Billy. “ Take these,” he said, “and be careful 
not to lose them. They are magical glasses 
through which you can look at the stars without 
hurting your eyes. That ’s a star there ! ” 

Billy put the glasses on just as he had seen 
his grandfather do many and many a time. There 
were hooks for over the ears and all. “ My!” he 
exclaimed when he was able to have a good long 
look at the big star without blinking. “ Is n’t 


16 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

that a whopper! I always thought stars were 

little like — like sugar.” 

“Well, they aren’t! How do you like the 
glasses ? ” 

“ Oh, they are fine ! I can look and look and 
never wink my eyes once.” 

Suddenly the boat was lifted, exactly like Uncle 
Tom’s boat when a big wave came along, and 
carried straight toward the star, almost crashing 
into it. Indeed, Sand Man had to take an oar and 
push with all his might against the star to keep 
the boat from touching it. 

“ These waves ! These dreadful waves,” he kept 
muttering. “ If I ’m not careful we ’ll be wrecked.” 

Billy didn’t see any waves, though he could 
feel them. He was just going to look over the 
side when he remembered what Sand Man had 
said about moving, so he sat still. 

Finally they left the star behind and Sand Man 
sighed loudly with relief. It was such a loud sigh 
that Billy felt that he was expected to say some- 
thing. 

“Were the waves very bad?” he ventured. 

“Very! ” 

“ I did n’t see any. I remembered that you said 
not to look over.” 


ST. IVES AND SEVEN WIVES 17 

“That’s a good little boy. The last little girl I 
brought for a ride looked over.” 

“Oh! What did you do ? ” 

“Nothing. But I shall never bring her again. 



“ I’m very glad you think I am good! ” 

“You aren’t always, but you were to-day. 


18 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

Especially to-night when you allowed Nurse to 
brush your teeth. You stood very still.” And he 
started to row again as hard as he could. 

“Don’t try to look for waves. You can’t see 
them anyway,” he said before long to Billy. 

“Oh! Are they magical waves?”. 

“No. Only air!” 

“ How funny ! ” laughed Billy. 

“Sh! Don’t laugh. Little Boy Blue is asleep 
and you will wake him up. He lives in there.” 
And Sand Man pointed to another star they were 
passing just then with a high gate on the side 
next to them. 

Through this gate Billy could see a hay-field 
and several hay-cocks. A pair of feet were stick- 
ing from under one of them. “That must be Lit- 
tle Boy Blue,” said Billy. “ I wonder if the sheep 
are in the meadow and if the cows are in the corn.” 

“ Of course they are ! ” declared Sand Man in- 
dignantly. “That boy is the limit; too lazy to 
attend to his job ! ” 

After that they did n’t come very near to any 
of the stars. The boat kept rocking just enough 
to make it pleasant, and as Sand Man kept on 
rowing very fast they shot along through the sky 
at a great rate. 


ST. IVES AND SEVEN WIVES 19 

Suddenly Billy thought of something. “ Do all 
the stars have gates ? ” he asked. 

“No. Cloud boats cannot go near some of the 
big stars. They would be wrecked. But nearly 
all the nice stars have gates for people to enter. 
We passed Little Boy Blue’s Star back there. 
Over there is Little Jack Horner’s Star, and there 
just ahead is Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son’s Star. 
I ’ll take you to all of them sometime. To-night we 
are going to the Star of St. Ives and Seven Wives 
as I told you. They are expecting us, but we are 
very late. I hope we can get through the gate.” 

Before long they came to a very bright star with 
a gate much higher than any Billy had seen. Sand 
Man steered the little boat straight for the gate and 
held out his hand as the boat stopped. 

“Come on, Billy 1 Here we are.” 

Billy stepped out of the boat on to the bright 
steps leading up to the gate, and when Sand Man 
had tied the boat so it could not get away he put 
his hands to his mouth and called, “ Hoo-a-la- 
hoo-oo ! Hoo-a-la-hoo-oo ! ” 

Immediately the golden gate opened itself and 
they stepped inside the star. Then the gate shut 
behind them. 

Billy was looking around curiously when all 


20 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


at once he saw some funny little ladies coming 
toward him. They were dressed very queerly, all 
in green dresses and yellow caps, and each one 
had an armful of odd-looking little bags. 

They did n’t pay any attention to Sand Man, 
but ran straight for Billy. 

When they had kissed him in turn on each of 
his rosy cheeks, they put all their little bags in a 



neat pile and took hands, forming a ring with Billy 
in the middle. Then they sang a little song which 
went like this : — 

“ Oh, Daffy Down Dilly, 

Here ’s dear little Billy, 

He ’s come to the land of St. Ives. 


ST. IVES AND SEVEN WIVES 


21 


Where there ’s pies, cakes, and candy, 

And everything dandy, 

That ’s made by industrious wives. ,, 

“ Uncle Tom said the wives were not going to 
St. Ives. He said the man with all the cats and 
sacks and wives and things was going the other 
direction and that — ” 

Suddenly he spied Sand Man shaking a finger 
at him and putting the other hand over his lips. 
That meant to keep quiet, so he stopped. He felt 
that he must be saying something rude. It never 
does to hurt people’s feelings. But the little wives 
had not heard him, and sang their song once 
again, dancing around him all the while. 

At last they stopped and went over to the pile of 
sacks and started to open them. And then the most 
delicious smells began to tickle Billy’s nose. It was 
like chocolate drops and frosted cake and vanilla 
ice-cream soda and caramels all mixed into one. 

Then Sand Man stepped forward. “ Let ’s show 
him the kits and cats first. We ’ll have to be 
going before long and he can eat these in the boat.” 

“ Very sensible,” remarked one little wife, closing 
her sacks again. “Come, Billy. This way, please.” 

She took his hand, and Sand Man and all the 
others followed. They went along a narrow 


22 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

street, and when they came almost to the end 
they turned into a big house exactly the shape 
of a mouse, with windows for eyes. Inside Billy 
saw more big cats, middling-sized cats, and little 
cats than he had ever dreamed were on the earth 
or in the stars. Some were playing with balls of 
string, some were sleeping, and a great many 
were mewing. Really there was a great noise ! 

“ Little girls like it here,” explained one little 
wife with a nod. “ Do you like kitty cats, Billy?” 

“ I like candy best,” answered Billy, remem- 
bering the delicious smells. 

“Isn’t that just like little boys!” they all ex- 
claimed. “Well, well! We want you to enjoy 
yourself, Billy, so we’ll go back to the candy.” 

Then they filled a big basket with the tempting 
bags and Sand Man put it into the boat. 

“Good-bye, Billy, come back soon,” the little 
wives called when each one had kissed him and 
Sand Man helped him in. 

“ Good-bye,” called Billy, waving his hand 
toward the star gate as the cloud boat began to 
rock. “ Thank you for everything. Good-bye.” 

“ It ’s a shame to wake the darlin’ when he was 
smiling so sweet in his sleep,” said Nurse Reenie. 


ST. IVES AND SEVEN WIVES 23 

“Were you having a nice dream, Billy Boy?” 
asked Mother. 

“Oh, Mother, I’ve had the loveliest ride with 
Sand Man. He ’s all green and gave me smoked 
glasses to see the stars — and the little ladies gave 
me bags of candy and — and — ” 

Billy stopped, for Nurse and Mother were laugh- 
ing ! Of course if they thought he had only been 
dreaming there was no use telling them any more. 

Downstairs Uncle Tom was more sympathetic. 
“ Sand Man !” he exclaimed to the little boy’s in- 
quiry. “ You just bet there is. I know him well. 
He’s taken me lots of places. You stick to him, 
Bill, especially if he knows how to run a boat. 
Can’t you give a fellow a bite of your goodies, 
though ? ” 

“They — they’re all gone,” exclaimed Billy. 
“ I ’ll try to save some for you next time.” 

“Oh, that’s all right; don’t worry. Just put in 
a good word for me, though, won’t you?” 

“ Yes, indeed I shall,” promised Billy. “ I wish 
he ’d take you along, but I don’t think the boat is 
big enough. I ’ll tell you all about the places we 
go to, though. Will that do?” 

“Sure it will,” said Uncle Tom. 
















Ill 


THE STAR OF HUMPTY DUMPTY 




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CHAPTER III 

THE STAR OF HUMPTY DUMPTY 

“ Good-evening, Billy,” said Sand Man. 

Billy did n’t see any one, but he had very good 
manners for a little boy. “Good-evening,” he 
answered, looking as hard as he could in every 
direction. 

“Just wait a minute, Billy, until I drop a few 
more grains of sleepy sand into your eyes, then 
you won’t have the least bit of trouble seeing me. 
Little boys never know I am around until they 
are very sound asleep. After that they can see me 
very well — that is, if I want them to.” 

“That’s funny!” remarked Billy. “How can 
I see anything when I am asleep?” 

“ Maybe it sounds funny to world people,” 
answered Sand Man thoughtfully, “but not to 
fairy people. We fairies know that world people 
see the most beautifulest of beautiful things after 
they are asleep. How are the eyes ? Can you see 
me all right now?” 

“Yes, indeed! You are looking very fit, Mr. 
Sand Man. Glad, indeed, to see you.” 


28 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


Sand Man looked very much astonished at so 
odd a speech, such a grown-up speech, from so 
little a boy. Then he laughed. “ I see,” he said. 
“ Little boys like to say what their Papas and 
Uncle Toms say. Perfectly correct, too. Yes, I 
am fit. Feeling just bully. That ’s the same as fit, 
you know. They both mean — But here we are 
talking grammar when we ought to be having a 
good time. Guess ! ” 

“ I beg your pardon ? ” 

“ My, you are getting grown up, Billy ! Most 
children would say, ‘Huh?’ or ‘What did you 
say?’ But I like your manners.” And Sand Man 
slapped his knee and chuckled to himself. “But 
as I was saying before, ‘Just guess.’ ” 

“ I can’t guess. I give up,” said Billy. 

“That’s sensible and the quickest way to find 
out. So I ’ll tell you right away and not keep you 
waiting. My sky boat sprang a leak last night. I 
was taking a little boy to Shut- Eye- Town and a 
big air wave rolled us right up against a big star. 
Tore a terrible hole.” 

“ Oh ! What was the little boy’s name ? ” 

“ Sammy.” 

“Did he like Shut-Eye-Town?” 

“You bet! I mean, very much.” 


THE STAR OF HUMPTY DUMPTY 29 

“Will you take me, Sand Man?” 

Sand Man put both hands on his green knees 
and laughed and laughed. In fact, Billy thought 
he never would say anything more he laughed 
so long. But finally he stopped. “ If that is n’t 
like little boys ! They want everything on earth 
— I mean, in the sky. Did n’t I take you in 
my cloud boat to the Star of St. Ives and 
Seven Wives? And did n’t they give you enough 
stuff to make your poor stomach turn a hand- 
spring?” 

“Yes, but you promised to take me with you 
again.” 

“ That ’s right,” said Sand Man, suddenly look- 
ing serious. “ I did promise and that ’s why I ’m 
here. I ’d have come lots sooner, only there are 
so many good little girls and boys these days. I 
have been very busy giving rides in my cloud 
boat. There ’s Lily Landers who washes and 
dresses her little brother, and Tom Downing who 
stopped pulling the cat’s tail, and the Hanson 
twins who used to throw banana skins on the 
sidewalk and will never do it any more. Oh ! I ’ve 
been very busy.” 

“ I ’ve been good,” reminded Billy. 

“ Well, Billy, that ’s so and I ’ve tried to get 


30 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

around to you before this, but I just could not 

manage.” 

“ You did n’t tell me how you got here if your 
cloud boat is leaking.” 

“That’s so. Well, the boat is at home getting 
fixed and I came in a flying machine. There ! 
Is n’t that a surprise?” 



Billy clapped his hands delightedly. “ Is n’t that 
fine, though! Is there room for two?” 

“Yes, sir! And if you ’re all ready we ’ll start 
right away. Are you ? ” 

“ Yes, indeedie! ” 

“All right. Well, there it is, right behind you 


THE STAR OF HUMPTY DUMPTY 31 
all this time. Give me your hand and then hop 
up into that funny little seat. That ’s the way. 
Now, I ’ll sit right beside you. By the way, here 
are your smoked glasses, the ones you wore the 
other night. You know how the star-shine hurts 
your eyes when we get very close.” 

Billy put the glasses on and the flying machine 
rose like a dandelion thistle when you blow very 
hard. Right up it went among the clouds and 
stars, with Sand Man steering it just as easily as 
could be and making it go just anywhere he 
wanted. 

“ Sometimes I think I ’ll give up my cloud boat 
altogether and use an airship on my travels.” 

“Why don’t you?” asked Billy. 

“Well, for several reasons. The most impor- 
tant one is that the fairies would raise a fuss. 
Cloud boats are far more fairy like— sort of magi- 
cal, don’tyouknow — than flying machines. Every- 
body can see just how these things work, but there 
is n’t a soul can guess how I make the other thing 
go with only two oars and nothing but air to 
go on.” 

“I never could,” acknowledged Billy. 

“That ’s just it ! I guess I ’ll take to the cloud 
boat again as soon as it ’s fixed. Say ! ” 


32 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

“Yes?” asked Billy expectantly, noticing Sand 
Man was thinking of something. 

“ I just happened to think. I heard there has 
been an accident on the Humpty Dumpty Star. 
Do you care if we go there to-night instead of to 
Shut- Eye-Town. Poor Humpty Dumpty has sat 
on a wall for years and years, and he has had a 
terrible fall, they say. Poor fellow. I ’d really like 
to see how he ’s getting along.” 

“Oh, yes!” agreed Billy eagerly. “ Let us go. 
I ’d really love to.” 

Sand Man turned the big wheel in front of him 
and the flying machine made a turn to the right, 
just like an automobile turning around a corner. 

“We shall have to be very careful to-night or 
we ’ll have another accident,” said Sand Man. 
“The clouds get in front of the stars and I can’t 
see them — the stars, I mean — until we almost 
bump into them.” 

“ Then we can’t see through any of the star 
gates,” said Billy ruefully. 

“Well, we might,” comforted Sand Man. “I 
saw through the gate of the Queen of Hearts on 
my way to your house. It did me good to see 
the King give the Knave another good beating. 
It ’s time the young rascal was mending his ways.” 


THE STAR OF HUMPTY DUMPTY 33 
But the clouds seemed to get thicker and 
thicker, and try as he might Billy could not see 
any stars with gates in them. 

“ Maybe I could see better if I should take off 
my glasses,” said Billy finally. 

“ Oh, no. Don’t do that,” said Sand Man. 
“ Those smoked glasses that keep the bright star- 
light out of your eyes are also magical glasses. 
If you take them off you won’t see Humpty 
Dumpty or anything. You couldn’t have seen 
the wives and sacks and cats the other night with- 
out those glasses either. Better keep them on. 
Why, bless my soul, here we are ! ” 

Sand Man stopped the flying machine right at 
the steps of a big star and Billy hopped off. The 
shining gate opened itself to let them in and closed 
again after them. 

The place seemed very quiet and deserted. All 
the houses along the road appeared to be empty 
and there was n’t a soul in sight anywhere. 

“ I wonder where all the people are ? ” re- 
marked Sand Man, looking around. “ I never 
saw this star so lonesome. Hi, there ! ” he shouted 
suddenly, putting his hands to his mouth and yell- 
ing as loudly as he could. “Where’s every- 
body?” 


34 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

A little man in the funniest red, white, and 
blue suit you ever saw stepped out in front of a 
queer-looking house. “ They are all at the acci- 
dent,” he said, pointing a finger down the road. 
“ The wall where Humpty Dumpty fell is the one 
around the palace and they are trying to get him 
up. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men 
are there.” 

“Let’s hurry,” said Sand Man, taking Billy’s 
hand, after thanking the little red, white, and blue 
man for his kindness. 

As they ran along the road to the King’s palace, 
they heard a great roaring which they soon made 
out to be the voices of a great many people. 

Sure enough, they soon got near enough to see 
an immense crowd just inside of a high wall. 

“We shall never be able to see anything in 
that crowd,” said Sand Man. “Let’s climb this 
tree and then we can see all that is happening.” 

Billy could n’t climb very well, but Sand Man 
gave him a boost and in the twinkling of an eye 
he was sitting comfortably in the highest branches. 

Then a wonderful sight met his eyes. In the 
middle of a great crowd of people there was a 
golden chariot in which sat the King and Queen, 
and ten beautiful white horses with jeweled har- 


THE STAR OF HUMPTY DUMPTY 35 
nesses were hitched to it. And on a golden table 
just beside them was half of an immense eggshell 
— empty. All over the ground were scattered bits 
of broken shell and the inside of the egg. Really 
it was shockingly scrambled. Dozens of men were 
on their knees with pots of glue trying to fix the 



pieces of shell together, others had golden spoons 
and bowls trying to scoop up the rest of the egg. 
But it seemed a hopeless task, and the King and 
Queen were shaking their heads sadly as if they 
thought it were of no use. 

“ Poor, poor Humpty Dumpty,” said Sand Man. 
“ They ’ll never get him together again. How did 
it ever happen ? ” he asked one of the bystanders. 



36 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

“ The King’s jester made a joke about a blue- 
bottle fly and Humpty Dumpty laughed so hard 
he rolled from the wall before any one could catch 
him,” explained the other. “He had sat there 
for seven hundred seventy-seven years, seven 
months, seven weeks, seven days, seven hours, 
seven minutes, and seven seconds.” 

“Well,” said Sand Man thoughtfully, “there 
were n’t any more sevens left, I guess, so he just 
had to fall off. Speaking of time, though,” — pull- 
ing a watch from his green suit somewhere, — “I 
think we’d better be going, Billy. It’s getting 
late and Nurse Reenie will be coming in soon to 
wake — Ahem ! I mean we have a long way to 
go home and it’s a cloudy night and hard steer- 
ing. Come on.” 

And Sand Man and Billy were soon in the fly- 
ing machine speeding through the sky. 










IV 

THE CROOKED STAR 





















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t 


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» 




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CHAPTER IV 

THE CROOKED STAR 

Billy and Sand Man were shooting through 
the sky in the cloud boat, which had been mended. 

“You can’t see any mended place at all,” Billy 
said when he got into the boat. “Was it broken 
very badly?” 

“Yes, indeed! The bow was smashed in and 
the rudder was bent and the mizzenmast was all 
twisted and the right main foresail was torn 
plumb in two.” 

Billy squinted upward through the smoked 
glasses he had put on, for it was a clear night and 
the starlight was dazzling. 

“ I don’t see any masts or sails,” he said 
doubtfully. “ I did n’t know there were any.” 

“There I go again!” answered Sand Man im- 
patiently. “ I ’m always getting mixed up these 
days. It must be because I ’m so busy. Of course, 
there are no masts or sails on this boat. I ’m 
thinking of the boat I had before I got this one. 
It was called ‘The Dreamland Boat,’ and got 
wrecked one night when I was taking little Kitty 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


40 

Patterson and her doll family to see Mary, Mary, 
Quite Contrary. You see the pretty maids all in 
a row are dolls, too, and that ’s where the little 
girls like to go.” 

“And did the little girl and the dollies get 
wrecked?” 

“Yes, indeed! But when I found the boat was 
going to pieces I remembered that the Bird Called 
a Snipe was living in the star next door, and I 
knew that he had an extra pair of magical wings, 
so I went there and borrowed them and fastened 
them on to Kitty’s shoulders and she got home 
safely.” 

“Oh!” was all Billy could say to this wonder- 
ful bit of news. 

“ Why don’t you ask what became of the one 
hundred thirty-seven dollies?” 

“ I don’t care what became of them,” said 
Billy. “ I don’t like dolls.” 

Sand Man chuckled and slapped his knee as he 
was always doing. 

“Well, I ’m going to tell you what became of 
them, anyway. When they fell through the hole 
in the bottom of the boat, right through the sky, 
I thought it was a shame to let all those beautiful 
dolls go to waste ; so, as I ’m a kind of a fairy 


THE CROOKED STAR 41 

myself, I caused them to fall very, very softly so 
they wouldn’t break when they landed on the 
earth, and to drop right into the middle of a street 
where very poor children play every day, children 
who never get dollies even on Christmas. When 
they woke up next morning and went out into 
the street, there was a grand scramble, I can tell 
you. They thought it had been raining dolls in 
the night.” 

“ Why did n’t you make the dollies fall down 
into Kitty’s house so she could have them again?” 

“ Because it was too many dolls for one child 
to have,” answered Sand Man thoughtfully. 
“ Besides, her grandma and aunts could buy her 
a lot more.” 

But Billy was n’t listening. They were passing 
a star the gate of which was different from most 
of the star gates Billy had seen on his travels 
with Sand Man. The shining bars of this gate 
were very close together and all over it was a sort 
of fly screening. The boat was n’t close enough 
for Billy to see inside very well, but he could 
hear the funniest noises, sounds like growling and 
barking and all sorts of things. 

“What star is that?” asked Billy. 

“That ’s the Dog Star,” answered Sand Man. 


42 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

“Didn’t you ever hear of it? Well, all kinds of 
dogs, big dogs and little dogs, live there. Some 
are so little they can crawl through the bars, so 
they have to put fine wire over the gate to keep 
them in. There are two or three Bear Stars, too, 
but I never take little folks there. The bears 
would n’t hurt you one bit, only you might think 
they were going to, and there ’s no use going 
there and being frightened when there are so 
many nice stars to visit. Every one seems to 
have heard of you, too, and they are all asking 
me to bring you around. Little Tommy Tucker, 
and Old King Cole, and My Son John, and Dr. 
Foster, and Nimble Jack, and all the fellows are 
wanting to see you. I ’d have taken you to see 
some of them last time if I had n’t been so anx- 
ious to know all about Humpty Dumpty’s acci- 
dent. It was nice of you to go along with me. 
You could not have been very much interested.” 

“Oh, yes, I was,” protested Billy. “I’m sorry 
he broke. 

“Well, well, it was too bad. But there ’s no use 
crying over spilled milk — I mean spilled egg.” 

Bump! 

“ Good gracious ! ” said Sand Man. 

Up beside the cloud boat shota streak of light. 


THE CROOKED STAR 


43 

On, on, up it went to the very top of the sky and 
then disappeared. 

“What was that?” asked Billy in astonishment. 
Sand Man shook his head. “ I ’m not sure 
whether it was a shooting star or a sky rocket. 
I ’m only glad it hit the side of the boat instead 



44 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

of the middle or it surely would have poked a hole 

in it.” 

“I thought stars shot across, not up,” said 
Billy. 

“ Oh, they shoot any old way, up, down, across, 
slanting, any way they want to go. That ’s one 
trouble about sky boating.” Sand Man looked 
overtheside. “Just a scratch,” he said ; “nothing 
to worry about.” 

“Where are we going?” asked Billy. 

“ I ’m going to let you guess after we get there. 
I want to see how smart you are. Here we are 
now, so you won’t have long to wait. Hop out, 
Billiken.” 

The boat stopped in front of a very large bright 
star with steps and a gate right in the middle. But 
the gate was as crooked as it could be. It looked 
almost like the kind little boys draw on the black- 
board in school, and the steps slanted dreadfully. 
When they were inside, Billy looked around curi- 
ously. What a funny place it was ! The grass 
looked like millions of corkscrews, and the flow- 
ers were so crooked that some of the roots were 
sticking up in the air while the flowers were 
blooming in the ground ; the trees were twisted 
all out of shape and the apples on them were 


THE CROOKED STAR 


45 

knobby and crooked — worse than any potatoes 
you ever saw. 

And the fences were crooked, the roads were 
crooked, the barns were crooked, and the very 
birds and chickens were crooked. 

“ I know where we are,” shouted Billy, clap- 
ping his hands. 

“Where?” beamed Sand Man. 

“ There was a crooked man, 

And he went a crooked mile, 

And he found a crooked sixpence 
Beside a crooked stile,” 

sang Billy. 

“You ’re right,” nodded Sand Man. “You are 
a very smart boy. And by the way, don’t be sur- 
prised when you see the Crooked Man. We are 
going to his house now. It is n’t that he is crooked 
that makes him so odd, but he always talks poetry. 
It just seems he can’t talk like other people. That ’s 
his house away over there. Come, let us go.” 

Sand Man took Billy’s hand and they walked 
along such a crooked road that they almost met 
themselves coming back. But after a great many 
twists and turns they came to the house and there 
was the Crooked Man himself standing in the 
doorway. He was, indeed, very crooked, but 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


46 

whether it was because the little boy was getting 
accustomed to things or because the man had 
such a kindly face with merry twinkling eyes, I 
do not know, but Billy began to like him at once. 



“How do you do? 

I ’ve been waiting for you.” 


And before Billy knew what he was doing he 
answered in poetry too, — 



47 


THE CROOKED STAR 

“ Why, I ’m very well, 

I ’m glad for to tell.” 

“Hear that!” spoke up Sand Man proudly, 
with a nod as much as to say, “I told you so.” 

“ Indeed ’n I do, 

He ’s a dandy all through,” — 

answered Crooked Man with a smile. And he 
went on, — 

“ Does he know how to eat ? 

I 've an elegant treat.” 

“Try him,” suggested Sand Man. “I never 
knew a little boy who could n’t eat everything all 
the time.” 

Billy followed Crooked Man into the house and 
sat down on a very tilty chair at a very wobbly 
table while a tremendously crooked black cat 
rubbed up against his legs. Billy looked and 
looked for the crooked sixpence and the crooked 
mouse, but he could see neither. 

Just then Crooked Man began to put nearly all 
the good things you can think of upon the table, 
lollypops and ice-cream cones and chocolate 
soda-water and everything. 

Then Crooked Man and Sand Man talked out- 
side while Billy tried all the goodies. They talked 
and talked for a long time and Billy ate and ate 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


48 

and ate. He was just starting on his second ice- 
cream cone when Sand Man called : — 

“Come along, Billy. Say good-bye to Crooked 
Man now and tell him what a good time you ’ve 
had. We really must be off.” 

So Billy said, — 

“ I thank you very, very much, 

For cakes and lollypops and such.” 

And Crooked Man smiled and answered, — 

“ I wish you would n’t even mention, 

Such a very small attention. 

If anything can give me joy, 

It is to feed a hungry boy. 

And so I hope you ’ll come again, 

Oh, one, two, three, four, six, eight, ten ! ” 

“Good-bye,” said Sand Man. 

“Good-bye,” called Billy brightly. 

And as they looked back and waved their hands 
they could see Crooked Man smiling in the door- 
way of his very crooked house. 


V 

LITTLE JACK HORNER 









I 






V 


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CHAPTER V 

LITTLE JACK HORNER 

Sand Man lifted Billy tenderly into his cloud 
boat while the little boy was asleep. They were 
far up in the sky among the stars when Billy sat 
up and rubbed his eyes. 

Sand Man chuckled softly and slapped his knee. 
“ I surprised you this time, did n’t I ? You did n’t 
know you were going to have a nice ride to- 
night, did you?” 

“Where are we going now?” asked Billy, still 
rubbing his eyes and blinking. 

Sand Man handed him the magical glasses and 
Billy hooked them behind his ears as he had done 
before. 

“ I thought we would go to the star where 
Little Jack Horner lives,” answered Sand Man. 
“Is there any place else you would rather visit?” 

“Oh, no!” said Billy. “I’d love to see Jack 
Horner.” 

Pretty soon the cloud boat stopped in front of 
a star and Sand Man helped Billy out. The big 
gate here was opened by a queer little man dressed 


52 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

exactly like Santa Claus, and Billy and Sand Man 
stepped inside. At first Billy thought it was Santa 
Claus, and was just going to hold out his hand 
and say, “ How do you do, Santa ! ” when he hap- 
pened to look on the other side of the gate and 
there was another little man dressed exactly the 
same. 

Both the little men had jolly, round faces and 
looked as glad as could be because company had 
come. They each made a rather jerky little bow, 
for their legs were very short, then straightened 
up suddenly and held their hands to their caps 
like soldiers while they said a little greeting speech 
together : — 

“ We hope you ’ve had a pleasant trip 
A-sailing in your noble ship. 

So welcome to the Land of Horner, 

Though Jack ’s not sitting in his corner.” 

“That’s a nice verse,” said Billy to the little 
men. “ I ’m glad Jack is n’t in a corner any more 
because I want him to play with me, and two 
can’t get into a corner. Did you ever play Pussy- 
wan ts-a-corner ? ” 

“ No, we did n’t,” said the little men. “ Is it 
nice?” But without waiting for an answer they 
linked their arms together and marked time. Left, 


LITTLE JACK HORNER 53 

right, left, right, — march. And they started off, 
saying over their shoulders, “ Fol-low us.” 

Sand Man put his arm through Billy’s and 
they fell in behind the 
two little Santa Claus 
men. The four of them 
marched along a road 
with trees on each side 
full of ripe plums. Fi- 
nally they came to a 
house right at the end 
of the road and the little 
men stopped. 

All at once the front door of the house was 
opened and a little boy rushed out and down the 
steps right over to Billy. 

“ Oh, you nice old Sand Man to bring me a 
playmate ! Now we can have a jolly time. And 
who do you think is here to-day? You ’ll never 
guess. Little Tommy Tucker! Now the three of us 
can play marbles and Indian ball and hopscotch 
and have a great time. Hurrah!” 

Jack caught hold of Billy’s hands and jumped 
up and down with glee. “Tommy, oh, Tommy, 
come here and see who ’s come ! ” he called to 
some one in the house. 



54 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

A little boy with a piece of bread-and-butter in 
each hand came to the door and looked out. “ Oh, 
stop eating for a minute and come on and play,” 
said Jack. 

So Tommy gulped down his bread in two big 
bites, wiped his crumby hands on his trousers, 
I ’m sorry to say, and came out. 

The two little Santa Claus men had disappeared, 
so Jack put his hands to his mouth and called 
as loud as he could, “ Fritzenherrigen ! Wilhelm- 
vongriinwald ! Come here ! ” 

The little men suddenly appeared again and 
waited for Jack’s orders. “We boys want to play, 
so please take Sand Man and show him a good 
time. Perhaps he ’s hungry, so take him into the 
dining-room and give him a large, fresh juicy 
Christmas pie to eat. And tell cook to please put 
three more into the oven, for all of us will want 
one after a while.” 

When they were gone Jack Horner took Billy 
and Tommy Tucker over to a nice, level place in 
the road, and they played marbles with round, 
hard plums. It was just dandy ! They had green 
ones for comies, blue for crockies, red for glassies, 
yellow for agates, and speckled ones for “onions.” 
Billy won all the marbles and his pockets were 
soon stuffed full. 


LITTLE JACK HORNER 55 

After a while they quit and played Indian ball, 
and all got hit and everybody was out. So they 
started on hopscotch, and Billy’s leg was getting 
pretty tired hopping when the two little men came 
marching along, stopped, touched their caps, and 
said, “Pie is served, Master!” 

"Goody! ” said Jack. “Come on, fellows.” And 
they all went into the house. 

Inside, the house seemed to be all one big room, 
— that is, downstairs. Upstairs likely there were 
beds to sleep in, but the big dining-room seemed 
to take up all the space on the first floor. The 
table in the middle was set exactly as for a 
birthday party, with pink candles and a fancy 
cover, except that instead of a cake in the center 
there was a big pie. Over in a corner stood a large 
Christmas tree glittering with tinsel and gold 
paper, gilded nuts and popcorn, and right under 
the tree was a dear little chair set exactly in the 
corner. Evidently it was for Jack. 

“ I never have to sit there any more,” remarked 
Jack. “I got tired of it. Would you like to try 
it, Billy?” 

“Yes, indeed!” exclaimed Billy. And he lost 
no time in popping right down. 

Then a little man in a big white apron and a 


56 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

cook’s cap brought in an immense Christmas pie 

and set it on Billy’s knee. 

“ Put in a thumb and pull out a plum, Billy ! ” 
laughed Jack. 

So Billy did so and put it into his mouth. 



LITTLE JACK HORNER 57 

He thought he never had tasted anything so de- 
licious. 

Jack and Tommy sat at the table eating and all 
three little boys were getting very full when Sand 
Man came to the door and beckoned to Billy. 

“ If I don’t take you home, Billiken, I ’m 
afraid you ’ll have — well, I can’t say it because it 
isn’t polite, but it rhymes with jelly-cake. Come 
along.” 

“ Good-bye, fellows,” said Billy. “ Had a dandy 
time. Come and see me some day.” 

Then Sand Man took his hand and they hur- 
ried for the gate. 


VI 

A VISIT TO THE APRIL FOOL 






















CHAPTER VI 

A VISIT TO THE APRIL FOOL 

“ To-night,” said Sand Man, tucking a soft 
warm blanket around Billy in the end of the 
cloud boat, so he would n’t get the grip, which 
was going around, “ we are going to a very funny 
place. I had intended to take you to the home 
of the North Wind, but when I saw how it was 
at your house, with Mamma sick in bed, and 
Nurse complaining, and Uncle Tom and Papa 
away, I decided you had been having a hard time 
of it and needed recreation.” 

“ What is that?” asked Billy. 

“ It means amusement. You need something 
to make you laugh and forget your troubles, so 
we ’re going on a visit to the April Fool. How ’s 
that? Now, what do you suppose that noise is? 
I fixed that rudder before I left home and there it 
is flapping again and jerking the boat forty ways 
for Sunday. My goodness ! I hope we shan’t get 
sky-sick ! No matter what fun is going on at the 
April Fool’s, we can’t enjoy it if our stomachs 
are wanting to turn somersaults, can we ? ” 


62 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 
“ Maybe we can tie it,” suggested Billy. 

Sand Man stopped rowing and put a finger to 
his forehead as if thinking deeply. 

“ That ’s a bright idea, Billy. Did you wear 
your laced shoes ? ” 

“ M-hm.” 

» What ! ” 

“ I mean, Yes, Mr. Sand Man.” 

“ Much better. Well, we ’ll tie one of the 
strings to that pesky rudder if you can spare it, 
and you can hold the other end.” A few twists 
with his nimble fingers and the trick was done. 
“ There ! That ought to be all right. Billy, you 
are such a comfortable little boy to take around. 
You always make the best of things and you ’re 
always ready to help. When you grow up you 
are going to be what they call a good sport.” 

“ Uncle Tom calls me that now ! ” 

“ Right-oh ! How ’s the tummy ? ” 

“It’s — it’s all right, I guess.” Billy was a 
little pale. 

“That’s the talk. Well, we’re here now, any- 
way. Let me whisper a little advice, Billy. No 
matter what happens in here, be a good sport. 
That means taking a joke, too.” 

“All right, I ’ll try,” said the little boy. 


A VISIT TO THE APRIL FOOL 63 

“ Oh, my goodness ! ” exclaimed Billy the next 
instant, for just as he put his foot on the first step 
of the star something big and bright went roar- 
ing by very close. “ I nearly fell over ! ” he said. 
“What was it? A cannon?” 

“ No,” laughed Sand Man. “ That ’s all right. 
It ’s only done to fool people. There is a spring 
in that step that sends off a sky rocket when 
anybody comes. I always dodge it and take two 
steps at a time. I guess I should have told 
you.” 

Billy put a hand into each pocket and his head 
went up. “ Oh, I ’m a good sport,” he said 
grandly. “ I m not afraid.” 

Sand Man slapped him approvingly on the 
shoulder. “ Go it, old top, you surely are a 
dandy. But I ’ll have to stop using slang or your 
Mamma won’t let you come with me any more. 
Hi, there, where are you going?” 

Billy had seen something interesting and was 
skipping off across the road. A big bird kite was 
caught on the lowest branch of a tree and Billy 
made a run to grab it, but just as his hand 
touched it the kite rose of its own accord to the 
next branch. The tree was old and crooked and 
the easiest thing to climb you ever saw, so with- 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


64 

out hesitating Billy went up after the kite. But 
again the same thing happened. Again, just as 
his hand touched the beautiful red-paper bird, 
the same thing occurred. Up went the kite — 
and up went Billy. 



The first thing you know he was in the tip, tip, 
top of the tree, but again, just as he was about to 
touch that beautiful kite, it went sailing away in 
the air high over Billy’s head. 

“Ha — ha,” laughed some one Billy couldn’t 
see. “Did you ever get left?” 


A VISIT TO THE APRIL FOOL 65 
And then, looking down, the little boy saw an- 
other boy holding the kite string in his hands and 
reeling it off at a great rate up into the sky. The 
bird was a mere speck in the air. 

“Did you do that just to fool me?” Billy had 
started to climb down and Sand Man helped him. 

“Yes,” laughed the boy. “You’ll get accus- 
tomed to it if you stay here long enough. Would 
you like to hold the string a minute ? ” 

“Oh, yes, indeed. May I?” 

And the boy generously handed it over. 

Billy had five minutes of fun, then Sand Man 
called him. “ Come along now. We must be off.” 

Billy thanked his new friend and said good-bye. 
Then he took Sand Man’s hand. 

“It pays to take a joke good-naturedly, you 
see,” said the latter. “ That boy liked you because 
you were n’t angry at his little trick, and then he 
let you have the kite. Watch out ! ” 

But he was too late. Billy had noticed a little 
round platform and did n’t see any harm in step- 
ping on it. It looked as though it might be the top 
of a well or something like that. Suddenly it be- 
gan to turn around, going faster and faster every 
minute and spinning poor little Billy so rapidly 
that you could n’t tell whether Billy was a little 


66 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

boy or a sack of flour. But the funniest part of it 
was that he kept getting closer to the edge all the 
time until he just could n’t stick on any longer and 
all at once he bounced right off and rolled down 
a grassy bank into some mud. “April Fool!” 
cried a voice, although there was no one in sight 
and the spinning platform had suddenly stopped 
quite, quite still. 

Sand Man was lifting his eyebrows in a queer 
way as if he expected Billy to cry. But the little 



fellow jumped up and did n’t do anything but 
swallow a lot of air to make up for the breath he 
had lost and rub his knee which had got a terrible 
bump when he fell off. 


A VISIT TO THE APRIL FOOL 67 

“That — that was a funny thing,” he said 
shakily. 

“Yes, and you’re a sight,” answered Sand 
Man. “I don’t see how on earth, — I mean on 
star, — I can take you to the palace of the April 
Fool in that condition.” But his eyes twinkled as 
he spoke, and suddenly looking down Billy dis- 
covered that the mud had disappeared from his 
clothes and they looked as clean and starched and 
nicely ironed as though just out of the laundry 
basket. You see it was magical mud and was 
never meant to stay. Billy was glad he had n’t 
cried as he had thought of doing for a minute. 
His knee felt better, too. And what do you think ! 
There was something sticking out of his pocket, 
too, and when Billy took it out curiously, he found 
it to be a nice little tin whistle that went like a 
canary bird. 

Sand Man nodded kindly. “ That ’s to make up 
for your rough treatment, Mr. Good Sport. Now, 
let ’s be getting along.” 

Billy had loads of fun the entire way to the 
palace and he really enjoyed being fooled. A string 
across the road knocked off his hat and when he 
went to grab it, it sailed away up in the air with 
a sound like a fire whistle if you ever heard 


68 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

one. And then it came down again, right on his 

head. 

He picked up packages that he was sure had 
something nice in them and found nails and 
prickly burrs and things like that instead when 
he untied the strings. He was fooled in so many 
ways I can’t remember them all. 

They were getting near to the town now, for 
there were more houses, the queerest-looking 
houses they were, and no two alike. They were 
all of two colors evenly divided in the middle 
like this — one side 
being red or blue or 
yellow or green, and the 
other side some other 
color. And the people nodding a welcome from 
the windows and porches were dressed in the 
same odd way, half and half. 

Once in town all the stores and buildings, Billy 
noticed, were done in two colors also, even the 
fountains and monuments and drinking-troughs 
for the horses. Then they came to the palace, and 
what a wonderful place it was, all built of a 
hundred kinds of colored glass with twelve big 
towers on top. 

They were taken at once to the room where 




—mn>, 






A VISIT TO THE APRIL FOOL 69 
the April Fool sat on a great, high throne all 
strung around with bells. Billy and Sand Man 
knelt on green satin pillows at the foot of the 
throne and touched their foreheads to the ground 
three times, for that ’s the way to do when you 
call on kings. 

“Arise, Sir William Ferguson, and Sir Sand 
Man Yawnem,” said the King, as he touched 
each of them on the shoulder with a little stick 
that had bells on the end. “ Word of your brav- 
ery and good nature has reached the palace and 
so I confer the degree of knighthood upon you 
both.” And then turning to some of his courtiers 
he said, “ Bring on the music and lots of merry- 
making, men, also the chocolate sundaes, custard 
pie, and lollypops for our distinguished company.” 

And Billy had such a rousing good time that 
he got tired and went to sleep, and the next day 
he couldn’t remember just how Sand Man got 
him back to the cloud boat, and who held the 
flapping rudder on the way home. 




















VII 

THE MAN IN THE MOON HAS A SHOW 



CHAPTER VII 

THE MAN IN THE MOON HAS A SHOW 

Sand Man came for Billy early one night. 
“There is going to be something extra special 
to-night,” he explained to the little boy, “and I 
am glad to see that you have on your best sailor 
suit with the eagle and anchor on the sleeve. You 
see, there is to be a movie party, the Man in the 
Moon is giving it and the invitations say please to 
bring a friend.” 

“Oh, goody!” cried Billy. “ I just love mov- 
ies. Do you think there will be anything about 
Indians or horses or trains? Mamma took me 
last week to see ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ but 
that’s a girl’s show — except the rabbit: I liked 
him.” 

“ Really I don’t know a thing about it,” an- 
swered Sand Man. Then he added anxiously, 
“Say, Billy, how does my green suit look? I or- 
dered a new one, but it did n’t come, and this one 
is all over grease-spots I got fixing that broken 
rudder.” 

“It looks very well,” said Billy politely. 


74 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

Sand Man sighed loudly with relief. “That 
makes me feel better ! I told you you were a 
comfortable little boy to have around, did n’t I ? 
Well, I suppose we’d better be going if we want 
to get there for the first act.” 

Billy got into the boat and Sand Man immedi- 
ately began to paddle with all his might through 
the sky and clouds to the place where the show 
was to be. 

“Are we going to the moon?” asked Billy. 

“ No, not to-night.” 

“But I thought you said the Man in the Moon 
was giving the party ! ” 

“I did, yes, but — oh, didn’t I ever tell you? 
You see there isn’t any moon sometimes. And 
so the Man has to have another place to live. 
When there is a moon, of course he lives in it, — 
and a lonely time he has, they say, — but al- 
though we have all been after him for years to 
give it up and live some place else, he still keeps 
on. He ’s sort of set in his ways. Hardly any 
one else will stay, you see, because the moon dis- 
appears every so often and it’s a nuisance moving 
every month. So that’s the reason he gets lonely.” 

“What place does he live in when there isn’t 
any moon ? ” asked Billy. 


THE MAN IN THE MOON 75 

“Well, he used to tumble down and go to Nor- 
wich, but several times he got lost and went south 
and burned his mouth eating cold pease porridge. 
I don’t see myself how it could happen when the 
porridge was cold, but that is the way the story 
goes and the Man in the Moon has never contra- 
dicted it, so it must be true. Anyway, he spends 
about a week every month on a star, and that ’s 
where we ’re going to-night. Here comes another 
boat. I suppose they are going to the party, too ! ” 
A boat something like their own came near 
and Billy, who could see very clearly through his 
magical glasses, recognized the passengers at 
once. “It’s the seven wives from St. Ives,” he 
cried ; “ the ones who gave me the candy.” 

“ Good-evening, Sand Man ! Good-evening, 
Billy,” they called as they passed. “Why don’t 
you come to see us again ? ” 

“ I shall, thank you,” answered the little boy 
politely, “just as soon as Sand Man has time to 
take me. Are all the cats well ? ” 

“ Quite well, thank you,” they called as they 
passed out of sight. 

A lot of boats were waiting for people at the 
steps of different stars. In star-land, or rather sky- 
land, that is the only way one can get anywhere 


76 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

unless you happen to have a flying machine or a 

balloon. 

“ I guess we have plenty of time after all,” said 
Sand Man. “Here comes King Cole, and Jack 
Horner, and everybody. It’s going to be a big 
party.” 

At last they reached a big bright star, in front 
of which was a long line of boats up and down 
as far as you could see. Billy and Sand Man had 
to get in line and wait their turn to go in. But 
the steps were big and wide and the gates were 
wide too, so they were soon inside and following 
the people to the end of a street where a great 
building covered with lights had this sign across 
the front : — 

“VENUS THEATER. M. I. MOON, Manager.” 

In a little while they were inside, and Billy 
thought it was the finest place he had ever seen. 
The carpet and chairs were all of red velvet and 
the trimmings and ornaments everywhere seemed 
to be made of pure gold. But he had quite a shock 
when Sand Man said, “ Billy, I want you to meet 
my friend, Mr. Moon. Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Moon.” 
For if the theater was beautiful, Mr. Moon was 
quite the other way. Really he was about the 


THE MAN IN THE MOON 77 

ugliest man Billy thought he had ever seen. But 
suddenly the little boy felt sorry for him, and he 
had a feeling right away, too, that he was going to 
like him very much, for he had a kindly, appeal- 
ing look which seemed to say, “I know I ’m ugly, 
that there ’s a boil on my ear and a corn on my 
chin, just as the Raggedy Man told little Jimmy 
in the book. And I know that there ’s a mole on 
my nose that is purple and black, and my eyes 



CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


73 

are so weak that they water and run ; but please 
try to like me anyway, for I like everybody on 
earth and in the sky. I want to be everybody’s 
friend.” Of course the Man in the Moon did n’t 
say all this. He just looked as if he would like to 
say it, so Billy smiled and held out his hand as 
he had seen his Papa do when he was introduced 
to any one. “Delighted to meet you, sir!” said 
Billy grandly. And the Man in the Moon shook 
his hand so long Billy thought he was never go- 
ing to let go. 

“I hope you will enjoy the show,” said Mr. 
Moon, turning to say How do you do to some 
new people ; so Billy and Sand Man passed along 
down the aisle and got seats in the front row. 

Pretty soon the curtain went up and everybody 
clapped, for there was a big white sheet all ready 
for the picture ; and when the picture began, what 
do you think it was about ! Hansel and Gretel, the 
little boy and girl who got lost in the woods ; and 
the old witch who lived in the house of sugar and 
cake. And Billy got so excited when the old witch 
stuck her head into the oven to see if it was hot 
enough, and Gretel pushed her in all the way 
and shut the door, that he just jumped up and 
down, and Sand Man had to say, “Sh! Keep 


THE MAN IN THE MOON 79 

still, Billy, or they ’ll think you have n’t any 
manners.” 

The next picture Billy thought he was n’t going 
to like because it was about a girl. But it hap- 
pened to be Cinderella, and when he saw the rats 



and mice and the pumpkin changed into horses 
and footmen and a golden coach, he was pretty 
nearly as excited as he was about the witch. 

When the pictures were done, little boys in red 
suits came down the aisles and passed lemonade 
and ice-cream to all the people. That’s about 


8o 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


the only way you can have anything to eat at 
such a big moving-picture party, because if the 
guests had gone to the Man in the Moon’s house 
afterwards for refreshments there would n’t have 
been room for everybody. So they all sat still and 
talked politely to the people near them and ate 
their refreshments and had a very fine time. 

Then Mr. Moon got up on the stage and made 
a speech and said he was glad to have them there, 
and wanted them to come again, and that he 
hoped they would all get home safely. Then they 
clapped their hands again and put on their wraps 
and went out. 

Going home, Sand Man let Billy row a little 
while. His rheumatism was bothering him in his 
shoulder where he had carried the bag of sand for 
so many years, to put into the children’s eyes, and 
pulling the oars hurt him. 

Billy said good-night and thanked Sand Man 
for taking him along when they reached home. It 
had been a most wonderful evening and he was 
going to remember it for a long time. 


VIII 


THE SAND MAN’S STORY 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE SAND MAN’S STORY 

Billy got the grip, after all. You can call it 
whatever you like, chills and fever, or a feverish 
cold, or grip, but anyway, he was pretty sick and 
had to stay in bed and take three kinds of medi- 
cine. 

All this time, of course, he had to stay at home 
— not only through the day, but also at night, 
for although Sand Man made him little visits he 
did n’t take him anywhere in his boat. “ You see I ” 
he explained to the little sick boy, “I can’t take 
little folks with me on my travels through the 
sky unless they are asleep — I mean, what earth 
people call sleep. It’s like this: Fairies can’t 
mingle with earth people or talk to them until they 
have closed their eyes and forgotten all about day- 
time things. And I should be in a terrible fix if 
on one of our journeys you should waken for a 
drink of water or something. Why, you would 
tumble overboard out of the boat in two shakes 
of a lamb’s tail — right down here into your bed. 
And where should I be? No, it would never 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


84 

do at all. There you go now. I ’ll wait until you 
come back.” 

Billy did waken just then, and Nurse turned his 
pillow and gave him his medicine and a drink of 
cool water. The little boy looked around for Sand 
Man, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

“What is it, darling?” asked Nurse. 

“Where did Sand Man go?” 

“ Sand Man ! He is n’t here, dear. He never 
lets big folks see him, you know.” She stroked 
the hot little forehead with light, gentle fingers 
that felt deliciously cool and soothing. Billy closed 
his eyes again, and there right beside him was 
Sand Man nodding and smiling the same as ever. 

“I tried to go with you,” said he, “but I 
could n’t follow when you woke up. Now, just 
suppose you had been in the cloud boat! Would n’t 
I have been frightened to death about you leav- 
ing so suddenly ! But I don’t believe you under- 
stand what I ’m talking about, so I ’m going to 
change the subject. What do you say if I tell you 
a story? ” 

“Fine!” cried Billy. “What one will it be? 
About The Blind Man or The Prince and the 
Blue Pillow or about Glowworm?” 

“Well,” said Sand Man, “I had not thought 


THE SAND MAN’S STORY 85 

of those. In fact, I ’m not sure that I know them. 
I ’ll tell you what I ’ll do, though. I ’ll name over 
all the stories I know and you can take your 
pick.” 

“Goody! Maybe you know some new ones I 
never heard before.” 

“ Maybe I do. Now, let ’s see. There ’s The 
Purple Mouse, and Double Thumb, and The Sol- 
dier’s Fiddle, and The Golden Horse, and The 
Enchanted Swing, and Sweet-Throat, and — ” 

“Tell me one about a little boy.” 

“Well — there’s ‘Johnny Jump-up.’ How’s 
that ? ” 

“Was he a little boy? I thought that was a 
flower.” 

“ It ’s both. In your yard it is a flower, but in 
my story it ’s a little boy who went out one day 
and — But there, there ! I see you are going to 
like it, so I may as well begin at the beginning.” 
And Sand Man crossed his knees just like Papa 
did when he was telling a story. 

“ Once upon a time there was a little boy who 
had a gun given him on his birthday. It was n’t a 
great big heavy gun like his Grandpa’s that stood 
in the corner, nor a little one like his Papa’s that 
was kept in a drawer. No, it was just a nice little 


86 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

boy’s gun that would shoot bird shot and did n’t 

make too much noise. 

“ For a long time he just tried to hit marks to 
see how straight he could shoot, and I ’ll tell you 
he got so smart with that gun that he could hit 
the bull’s-eye every time. I suppose you ’ll say 
that he could n’t hit a mark with a shot-gun when 
the bullets spread out so ; but that made it all the 
easier you see ; some of the bullets were sure to 
hit the place he was aiming at every time. 

“After a while, though, he got tired of shoot- 
ing at pieces of paper tacked around on the trees 
and he took to aiming at the birds. He did n’t 
mean to shoot any, really, but he would put his 
gun up to his shoulder and aim, just to see if 
the shot would go straight if he should pull the 
trigger. 

“And do you know he thought so much about 
it, he got to feeling that he would just have to try 
and see if he could hit a bird with that gun ! So 
one day, when every one was away, he went out 
and crossed the cow pasture and climbed a fence 
and waded a creek and crossed another field and 
there he was in the big, big woods looking around 
everywhere for a bird. 

“The trees were taller than the ones in the 


THE SAND MAN’S STORY 


87 

yard at home and it was hard to see the birds for 
the thick leaves. He could hear them chirping 
and fluttering and fussing and see the flash of 
their wings occasionally, but he could n’t get his 
gun up to his eye in time to get a shot. And then 
all at once he thought he saw something in a big 
oak tree and fired. 



“Now, it happened that Yellow Cap, court jester 
to the King of the fairies, was having a nap in a 
bird’s nest. It was this way. He had been up all 
night at a ball. The King’s daughter was going 


88 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

to marry Prince Goldfish and there had been a 
big party to celebrate the engagement. All the 
wood people had been there and all the fairies 
and elves and goblins and brownies. But never 
before had a fairy married any one of the water 
folk, so it was rather unusual to have to ask all 
the fishes and turtles and frogs and people like 
that. But they had had the party on an open 
green place right beside a stream, so that the 
water people could come quite close and look on. 
Yellow Cap t had been told by the fairy King to 
try and be as funny and entertaining as he could 
and to see that all the guests had a good time ; 
so, being a bright, obliging little fellow, he had 
run from one place to another turning summer- 
saults and jingling his bells and tickling the 
babies behind the ears until he was about ready 
to drop. When the refreshments of acorn cake 
and arbutus lemonade were served, and every 
one was sitting around with a napkin tucked in 
his neck and eating for dear life, Yellow Cap had 
stolen away to a quiet place to have forty winks 
of sleep. 

“ So he climbed an oak tree, and on the lowest 
bough, close up to the trunk, he found an old 
empty bird’s nest as soft inside as a piece of silk. 


THE SAND MAN’S STORY 89 

He sank into it with a sigh of relief. How comfort- 
able it was! Just the thing he had been looking 
for ! He curled up comfortably like a kitten, his 
head resting lightly against the edge of the nest 
and his yellow cap hanging over. In a twinkling 
he was asleep. 

“ The plates were lifted and wraps were found 
for the departing company. Every one said good- 
night and what a lovely time he had had, and 
went away. After a while there was n’t anybody 
left. Still Yellow Cap slept. The birds woke up 
and the sun peeped in at him through the leaves, 
but he slept on. My, but he was tired ! 

“ It was the middle of the morning when the 
fairy King’s jester was discovered missing. Word 
was sent to all parts of the kingdom and a gen- 
eral search was begun. Some of the fairies looked 
among the roots and leaves on the ground, some 
went great distances along the water’s edge and 
inquired of all the frogs and fishes, and others 
went to the tops of the trees and looked among 
the branches. Now, it happened that Clearwing, 
the youngest daughter of the King, came to the 
tree where Yellow Cap was asleep and suddenly 
she spied him. Then she called all the little 
fairies to come and have a look, too. There was 


90 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

a great scramble then, I can tell you ; some flew, 
some ran, and some climbed, but anyway they 
all got there somehow. They were planning just 
how they could play a joke on Yellow Cap, when 
suddenly there was a dreadful bang, and a lot of 
little lead balls shot right into the tree among 
them. 

“ Of course you know what had happened. 
Johnny had seen the tassel on Yellow Cap’s hat, 
and thinking it was an oriole or some other kind 
of a bird he had pulled the trigger. 

“Well, the nest flew to pieces and Yellow Cap 
got an awful fall, one fairy got a hole through his 
wing, and one a broken wrist, one got her best 
white dress torn dreadfully, and another nearly 
lost the end of her nose. It was terrible for a 
while, and all from the bullets out of Johnny’s 
gun. 

“Johnny didn’t know he had hit a fairy; he 
thought it was a bird he had seen come flopping 
down, and he started to hunt for it. But it was 
n’t any use, for Yellow Cap on his nimble legs 
ran like a deer and took a short cut to fairyland. 

“ Then the fairies held an indignation meeting 
as soon as they had carried the injured ones 
home. The idea of a little boy with a gun com- 


THE SAND MAN’S STORY 91 

ing into the woods and shooting at living things! 
He would have to be punished! 

“And this is what they did. They made a net 
of fine roots and vines and strung it across the 
path, and when Johnny came along he tripped and 



fell. And before he could scramble to his feet 
again the invisible King of the fairies had waved 
his wand three times over Johnny’s head and 
said : — 

“ ‘Oh, Johnny jump up and Johnny jump down, 

He tried to shoot my favorite clown; 

When after this he ’s hunting game, 

I ’ll make him jump and spoil his aim. 

Oh, dillory dock ; oh, dillory dare ! 

Oh, elves in wood and birds in air ! ’ 


92 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 
“‘That ought to fix him. He ’ll get so tired of 
missing everything he aims at that shooting won’t 
be any fun. Go, now, Mr. Johnny, go home to your 
Mamma and see if you can’t be a good boy ! ’ ” 

“And did Johnny stop shooting birds?” asked 
Billy. 

“You’re right he did,” said Sand Man. “He 
quit shooting everything. It’s no fun when you 
miss all the time. The fairy King did exactly the 
right thing. After that, when Johnny would pull 
the trigger, he jumped and spoiled the whole 
thing. He thought it was the gun’s fault, for of 
course he never knew he had shot up a tree full 
of fairies and that the King had put a spell over 
him. That’s all,” said Sand Man. 

“ That was a nice story,” said Billy. “ Thank 
you very much ! I wish you would tell me an- 
other one some — some — ” 

Just then Billy opened his eyes and looked 
around sleepily for something. “ Did Sand Man 
go away?” he asked. 

Nurse was standing beside the bed. “Sand 
Man? The darling’s been dreaming again! 
There is n’t any one here but me, Billy. Would 
you like another drink, dear?” 


THE JACK-O’-LANTERN STAR 



/ 




CHAPTER IX 

THE JACK-O’-LANTERN STAR 

When Sand Man took little Billy on his next 
trip through the sky in his cloud boat, he told him 
he was going to give him a big surprise. Billy 
coaxed and coaxed Sand Man to tell him what it 
was, but Sand Man said : — 

“No, you will enjoy it more if you don’t know 
what’s coming. And to tell the truth I don’t 
exactly know what we are going to see, myself. 
Have you got your magical glasses, Billy?” 

“Yes, here they are. I was just going to put 
them on.” 

“That’s the boy! Now, sit nice and still.” 

The cloud boat went whizzing along at a great 
rate and stopped in front of the funniest star you 
ever saw. It was so big you could n’t see to the 
top and it was round like a pumpkin. It had two 
round holes for eyes, and another like a nose, and 
a long, curved slice like a mouth. There were 
bright lights shining inside and it looked exactly 
like — now, what do you suppose ? 


96 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


There, you have guessed it as quickly as Billy 
did. A Jack-o’-Lantern, of course ! 

“Yes,” said Sand Man. “This is the Jack-o’- 
Lantern Star, and if it’s as jolly inside the old 
fellow as it looks from the outside, we are going 
to have a fine time.” 



The cloud boat stopped right in front of the 
mouth of the Jack-o’-Lantern Star. They could n’t 
see any gate like there was on the other stars they 
had visited, so they went to the only place they 
could see to get in. 


THE JACK O’LANTERN STAR 97 

It must have been the right place, for just in- 
side, when they were fastening the boat with a 
rope so it could n’t get away, a queer little man 
came up to them and said, “Tickets, please!” 

“We forgot to get tickets,” said Sand Man, 
“ but can’t we just pay our way in ? ” He reached 
his hand into one of his mysterious green pockets 
and pulled out an immense pocket-book. 

“Yes, but I’ll have to charge you ten cents 
apiece extra,” said the queer little man. 

“All right. Everything comes high these days,” 
answered Sand Man, counting out the money. 

But Billy was looking right ahead and seeing 
so many funny things he had n’t heard a word 
Sand Man said. 

A big brass band had just come around the 
corner of a street and Billy laughed and laughed 
when he saw it. All the men had pumpkins for 
heads, and they wore suits of big green leaves like 
there are on pumpkin vines. I suppose I should 
call it a tin band instead of a brass band, for every- 
body had dishpans for drums and frying-pans for 
fiddles, big funnels for horns, and bean-shooters 
for fifes. My, but they looked funny ! 

The tin band had a funny drum major, too. 
That ’s the man in front who generally has on an 


98 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

immense high hat and carries a big stick with a 
knob on it, which he throws up into the air and 
catches again. Well, this drum major had a sort 
of a double stepladder instead of a stick, and he 
would set the ladder down and march up one side 
and down the other — always keeping time to the 
music. 

When the band had gone, a big torchlight pro- 
cession came along, and there was so much light 
Billy was glad he had on his smoked glasses. 
First came a hundred men with long sticks that 
had lanterns on top, then came a hundred men 
with red, white, and blue umbrellas, and every- 
body clapped his hands at that and so did Billy. 

But the next hundred men were the nicest of 
all, for instead of buttons on their coats and sleeves 
and cuffs and collars, they had little electric lights 
like those on a Christmas tree. You can imagine 
how nice they looked. 

Billy wanted to run ahead and see it all over 
again, as he had done when there was a circus 
parade in town one time; but Sand Man said they 
would have to hurry if they wanted to see every- 
thing even once. 

So they made their way to a big building near 
by and went inside. There were ever so many 


THE JACK-O’-LANTERN STAR 99 
people there and they were all busy making — 
what do you think? — popcorn, in poppers so big 
that Billy could have stood up in one. It took six 
men to shake one popper, and the noise that corn 
made when it was popping was something awful. 
It sounded something like a war, Billy thought. 
Another place they were putting the snowy white 
things into a bowl as big as a washing-tub, and 
pouring syrup over it and making it into balls 
wrapped in bright paper. Sand Man bought Billy 
two balls, a red and a yellow one, and they went 
out. 

Then the funniest thing happened you ever 
saw. The clowns came along ! A lot of them had 
Jack-o’-Lanterns for_pretend heads, just like the 
men in the parade, and some had funny false 
faces. One clown had false ears as big as plates, 
and he could wiggle them by pulling some strings. 
Billy laughed so hard at this he nearly fell over. 
Another clown had a false nose, and it was so 
long that it curled up over the top of his head 
like a piece of bologna. And still another clown 
was dressed like a baby in a long white dress, 
while its Mamma pushed it in a buggy. The baby 
and its Mamma, Billy knew, were men, too, just 
dressed up for fun. Everybody laughed when they 


100 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

saw the mother’s hat. It was a market basket 
turned upside down with a really live chicken sit- 
ting on top. There were so many clowns Billy 
could n’t count them. Some were dressed like 
parrots and some like monkeys, but a whole lot 
just had on funny white baggy suits with big 
black spots on them and they had their faces 
painted white and red. They tumbled and rolled 
all about, and Billy had a fine time watching them. 

One clown gave Billy a handful of taffy as he 
was passing and another gave him some roasted 
chestnuts. 

All at once another band came along. Sand 




THE JACK-O’-LANTERN STAR ioi 
M an whispered that it was Old King Cole and 
his Fiddlers Three, but that he must have bor- 
rowed some more men because there were ten of 
them. Old King Cole himself was the drum major 
of this band and wore a high crown instead of a 
hat. After the band came a lot of people dressed 
like pumpkins, and leading another man by a 
rope. Over this man’s head was a big sign on 
which were the words, “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin 
Eater.” 

Sand Man began to laugh. “ They won’t let 
Peter get loose very soon for fear he will eat 
them. Well, Billy, that’s all, I guess. We had 
better be off. They are putting out all the lights 
in the houses and everybody seems to be leav- 
ing.” 

So Sand Man and Billy went back the way 
they had come, got into the little cloud boat and 
rode home through the sky to Billy’s house. 







I 














X 

ON THE RIVER 




















CHAPTER X 

ON THE RIVER 

The weather was very hot, so hot that Billy 
couldn’t sleep at night when he went to bed. 
Nurse Reenie had gone away, too, and he missed 
her. No, there was n’t anybody sick at home that 
she had to take care of, and there was n’t any 
little boy or girl that she liked better than Billy, 
either. That was n’t possible, because she loved 
him almost as much as if he had been her own 
little boy. But Mamma and Daddy and Uncle 
Tom all agreed that he was n’t a baby any more, 
and that it was better for him to depend upon 
himself a little, if you know what that means. 

“ Put overalls on him and let him run,” said 
Daddy. “ He needs dirt to dig in, and sunshine, 
and exercise, and not so much soap and water nor 
so many white starched clothes to keep clean.” 

That suited Billy exactly, of course, for he did 
n’t like to be dressed up. 

“And I shall take him for boat rides in my 
canoe and we’ll go fishing, too,” said Uncle 
Tom; “and fishermen can’t have nurses around 


106 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

always telling them to keep clean. They ’d scare 

away the fish.” 

“Oh, goody!” cried Billy; for he loved to go 
in Uncle Tom’s boat away up the river and 
around the bend so far he could n’t even see his 
own white house on the hill. So, although he 
missed Nurse Reenie, life promised to be happy. 

But, as I said, the weather was so hot that no- 
body could sleep very well, and whether that was 
the reason Sand Man did not take him for any 
rides in his cloud boat, or whether it was because 
he thought Billy was having enough boat rides 
in the daytime, I don’t know. Maybe he thought, 
like Daddy and Uncle Tom, that Billy was get- 
ting too old for nurses and nursery people. 

Well, anyway, one night it was so extra hot 
that Mamma said, “ I just can’t put Billy to bed 
for a while, John,” — that was Daddy’s name; — 
“can’t we fix the swing into a bed out here on 
the porch and let him take a nap until we are 
ready to go in ourselves?” 

“ I ’ll tell you what we ’ll do,” said Uncle Tom. 
“ Let me get the motor-boat and take you for a 
run up the river and back. That will cool us all 
off, and if Billy gets sleepy we ’ll fix a snug little 
place for him to lie down. How’s that?” 


ON THE RIVER 


107 


“All right,” said Mamma. 

So it was decided and they were soon settled in 
the boat — not Uncle Tom’s canoe, which didn’t 
go unless you used a paddle, but one that went by 
itself on the water, just like an automobile does 
on land. All you have to do is to push a little 
thing this way and turn a wheel that way and 
shove something else the other way, and you can 
make the boat do anything you want. 

The river was quite different at night from day- 
time Billy thought. The water was all black, and 
the stars and moon seemed to be in the bottom of 
it. The moon was getting big enough now for the 
Man in the Moon to move into again, and Billy 
kept looking over the edge of the boat into the 
water and wondering if he could pick out the 
stars he had visited. He was thinking about Jack 
Horner and Crooked Man and April Fool, and 
how kind every one had been to him, when all at 
once something poked its head up out of the water 
right beside the boat. Billy was startled at first, 
but on looking closer he saw that the head wore 
a green cap with a point on top. 

“ Sand Man,” he called delightedly. 

“ Yes, it ’s me,” answered Sand Man. “ I mean, 
it ’s I.” And he turned his face toward Billy for 


108 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

an instant so the little boy could see that it really 
was his dear old friend. 

“Where’s your boat?” called Billy. 

“ No good in water,” said Sand Man, out of 
breath from swimming so hard. “My! I wish 
your Uncle would go more slowly. I want to talk 
to you.” But just then the boat gave another lurch 
ahead. “ I guess I ’ll have to do it, after all ! ” And 
without explaining what he meant, Sand Man sud- 
denly said the magical words, “Maxi, taxi, fisher 



flum!” And what do you suppose happened? 
Billy found himself in the water, not a bit scared, 
but feeling cool and comfortable and swimming 
along beside Sand Man as easily as he could swing 
in the hammock at home. “ Now you are a fish,” 
said Sand Man. 

“A fish ! ” said Billy, suddenly feeling an itchy 


ON THE RIVER 109 

place on the end of his nose and trying to scratch it. 

“Yes, all but your head and arms. I’m one, too. 
The Queen of the mermaids gave me the power 
to change us, you see. I never could go to visit 
any of the stars in the water before, but now I 
can visit them all. I can put my head under the 
water and stay down as long as I like and you can, 
too. Try it.” 

Billy ducked his head, but suddenly thought of 
something. “ But Uncle Tom said the stars in the 
water were only pictures of the stars in the sky.” 

“ I know that’s what they say,” answered Sand 
Man in contempt; “but they say lots of things 
that they are not sure about. I happen to know 
that there really are water stars, so there ! But no 
one except a fairy can tell the picture stars from 
the real ones. I ’m going to take you to a real 
water star to-night.” 

“ How splendid ! ” cried the little boy. “ And 
shall we see fishes and shells and things?” 

“We shall see what we shall see!” said his 
guide grandly. “ Now, duck your head and 
wiggle your tail and swim downward like I do. 
That ’s the ticket ! ” 

And Billy found himself in the cool depths of 
the water, able to see everything perfectly, with 


no CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

starlight overhead and starlight underneath and 
the shining sides of the silver fishes gleaming like 
lanterns to light the way. 

Down went Billy and Sand Man through the 
moonlit, starlit water. Never had Billy been in 
such a beautiful place before. The river, although 
it looked all black on top, was altogether different 
underneath. Somehow it made Billy think of a 
jewel his Mamma wore in a pin at her throat, a 
moonstone pale blue and misty, and the little dia- 
monds set around it were just like tiny stars. 

And there were wonderful water creatures that 
stared at them with great round eyes ! Red and 
blue fishes and golden ones striped with silver, 
and rainbow-colored eels and river crabs of every 
color. 

“ Do you like it?” asked Sand Man. 

“ Yes, indeed,” said Billy. “ It ’s just like fairy- 
land.” 

“ It is fairyland,” said Sand Man. “ This par- 
ticular part of the river belongs to the mermaids 
and they have it all fixed up to suit themselves. It 
is their garden, you see. They have fishes, though, 
instead of birds ; just as your orchard and garden 
on the hill have robins and bluebirds and wood- 
peckers and orioles and dozens of other beautiful 


Ill 


ON THE RIVER 
birds, they have different kinds of fish. They have 
flowers, too, although they also are different from 
your flowers. When we get to the bottom of the 
river you will see them for yourself.” 

“What water star are we going to?” asked 
Billy. 

“ Bless my soul, if he is n’t getting curious,” 
laughed Sand Man, wiggling his fish tail in glee. 
“I suppose it’s time to tell, though. Why, we 
are going to the Mermaid’s Star on the bottom 
of the river ! How does that suit you ? ” 

“All right,” said Billy. “ But Uncle Tom said 
mermaids would n’t let little boys see them ! ” 
“You’re not a little boy. You haven’t any 
legs, have you? You are a mer-boy now and I am 
a mer-man. They’ll let us in all right, don’t worry 
about that. Watch out there! That fish nearly put 
your eye out with his sharp tail.” 

As they got near to the bottom, the pale, misty 
light got brighter and clearer; not a golden light 
like the star-shine in the sky, but a wonderful 
silver light that was different from anything the 
little boy had ever seen. It came from a great 
house that was all built in points like a star, and 
the windows were so close together that you could 
scarcely put the tip of a finger between them. 


1 12 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

Billy wanted to stop and look at the wonderful 
things he saw, but Sand Man gave him a little 
shove with his fin — you know what a fin is, don’t 
you? — and said reprovingly: “ It is n’t polite to 
stare through people’s windows, Billy. Let ’s go 
and ring the bell. But I suppose they know we 
are here because they can see out as well as we 
can see in. By the way, I did n’t bring your magi- 
cal glasses because I did n’t have a pocket. Does 
the light hurt your eyes?” 

“No,” said Billy, “not a bit.” 

“ I thought it would n’t, because, when I turned 
you into a mer-boy, that was supposed to fix your 
eyes, too, so you could look at everything. Now, 
mind your manners ! We ’re going around to the 
front door.” 

Sand Man was right when he said mermaids 
have gardens. There were flower-beds of every 
shape you could think of, with thousands of 
blooming flowers of all colors. They were differ- 
ent from earth flowers, but just as beautiful, and 
some were a great deal larger than the biggest 
sunflower you ever saw. There were even great 
trees of flowers, and flowering vines growing over 
arbors and pergolas. If you don’t know what a 
pergola is, get some one to tell you, and then 


ON THE RIVER 113 

you ’ll know how beautiful the place was. And 
the front porch and door and steps, and in fact 
all of the house that was n’t glass, was of glisten- 
ing white marble that was so wonderful with the 
silver light all over it, it would have hurt Billy’s 
eyes, I ’m sure, if Sand Man hadn’t used his 
magic. 

“ Oh, my ! ” said Billy. “Oh, my ! ” — just like 
that. He was really getting almost dizzy with so 
much beauty and brightness. 

“See!” said Sand Man happily. “Didn’t I 
tell you ! Now, we ’ll swim up the steps and ring 
the bell. That ’s the proper way to visit people.” 

But they did not have to ring, because the door 
was opened for them instantly by a shad (that ’s 
a big fish) all dressed in a blue velvet suit and 
silver bells that tinkled when he moved. He 
stood on the tip end of his tail and bowed so 
low before Billy and Sand Man that he almost 
made a perfect hoop, and to tell the truth Billy 
was just thinking of giving him a little push, 
when he rolled away himself and all his bells 
jingled. 

Billy looked around. They were in a beautiful 
hall made of all colors of marble, with stairs that 
were carved out of immense sea-shells, and rows 


1 14 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

of fish — dressed up like the shad in velvet suits 
with bells — stood in long lines bowing before 
Billy and Sand Man. 

Then a mer-man came through a door at the 
right, — or swam through, I should say, — and 
said to please follow him. So they swam right 
after him into a room so big that Billy thought it 
must be about a mile wide and a mile high. There 
were mermaids everywhere here, some singing, 



some playing harps, some braiding their long 
black hair with flowers, and others making crowns 
out of periwinkles. At the end of the room was 
a high throne, and on it sat the loveliest, kind- 


ON THE RIVER 


ii5 

est-looking lady Billy had ever seen except his 
Mamma. She was just like the other mermaids 
because she had a fish’s tail instead of feet, but 
her hair was golden instead of black, and she had 
great blue eyes. 

“Come here, Billy,” she called, smiling. All at 
once Billy was n’t the least bit afraid, but swam 
right over to her, and she put her arms around 
him and kissed him. “You are a dear little mer- 
boy,” she said. “ I am so glad Sand Man brought 
you. Now, we want you to have a good time; 
so, as soon as Pinfin takes you to the dining- 
room and gets you your dinner, I will have 
Purpletail take you up to the nursery where the 
little mer-children are playing, and you may play 
games if you like until Sand Man is ready to go 
home with you.” 

And, indeed, Billy had a wonderful time eat- 
ing — no, not fish — mer-people don’t eat fish — 
but roe pudding and seed cakes, and water ice 
better than any he had ever tasted, and oh, lots 
of things. 

And the little mer-boys let him ride their sea 
horses, and they played see-saw and water ball 
with him, and let him use their sliding board, 
which was just dandy when you had a slippery 


1X6 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

tail, and there was games and everything. They 
were having a splendid time when some one 
touched Billy on the shoulder. 

“I don’t want to go home, Sand Man!” said 
the little boy sleepily. 

Papa gathered him up in his arms as Uncle 
Tom’s boat bumped on the shore. “ The little 
man ’s been away on travels again, has he ? ” 

And Billy was just going to tell him how he 
and Sand Man had been to the Mermaid’s Star 
at the bottom of the river when he fell asleep 
again. 


XI 


THE SANTA CLAUS STAR 



























CHAPTER XI 

THE SANTA CLAUS STAR 

“I think,” said Sand Man, “that while the 
weather is so warm we had better hunt a cool 
place, so I am going to take you in my cloud boat 
to the star where Santa Claus lives. He does n’t 
live there all the time, for his regular home is at 
the North Pole, — every one knows that. But he 
has another home, too, like the Man in the Moon, 
and that ’s where we are going to-night.” 

“Is that why you brought that big pile of coats 
along?” asked Billy, pointing to the bottom of 
the boat where there were ear-muffs and mittens 
and arctics and big bearskin coats. 

“Yes,” answered Sand Man. “I was thinking 
of taking you to the Star of the Four Winds, and 
making a call on North Wind in his ice palace, 
when it occurred to me that South Wind might see 
us and get jealous, and blow with all her might; 
her breath would just about smother us wrapped 
up in these furs and things. That would n’t do 
at all when we are hunting cool places; so as 


120 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

Santa Claus had asked me to bring you, I decided 

that this was a very good time.” 

Billy was very greatly pleased and excited, but 
just a little bit nervous. He loved Santa dearly 
and thought he was the kindest, nicest person 
there was almost, for every Christmas he gave 
Billy such wonderful presents of trains and ani- 
mals and toys; but Mamma and Daddy had always 
said very positively that Santa Claus did n’t like 
little boys to see him, and that he would n’t leave 
a single thing if he, Billy, did n’t go right to sleep 
like a good little boy. So how would Santa Claus 
like it if he found a little boy looking at him 
now? 

“Don’t you want to go?” asked Sand Man, 
seeing him hesitate. 

“Yes, indeed! But won’t Santa be cross if I 
look at him? ” 

Sand Man chuckled and slapped his knee. 
“Well, you are smart to think of that! But I 
should n’t worry if I were you. It just happens 
that Santa Claus is a most, most particular friend 
of mine, and everything that I do is all right. I ’ll 
tell you a secret if you don’t tell. Every Christ- 
mas I go around with Santa and help him. Why, 
without me he could n’t do a thing ! I am a sort 


THE SANTA CLAUS STAR 


121 


of a scout, you see, Willie Winkie and I. We go 
on ahead and look around and tell Santa when 
the coast is clear, and when he can safely go into 
the houses where the children are asleep. Wee 
Willie Winkie tells me the children who are n’t 
asleep and I do the rest. You ’ve heard about 
Willie Winkie, have n’t you ? 

“ ‘ Wee Willie Winkie runs about the town, 

Upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown. 

Peeping through the windows, 

Calling through the lock, 

Are all the babies in their beds, 

Because it ’s eight o’clock ! ’” 

Billy clapped his hands. “Do you know any 
more, Sand Man?” 

“ Barrels, but I have n’t time to tell you just 
now. We ’re there ! ” 

The boat stopped in front of a great star that 
glowed with a bright red light. 

“It’s different from the rest, isn’t it?” whis- 
pered Billy. 

“Christmas color, you know! ” said Sand Man, 
tieing to the dock and helping Billy up the steps. 

Now, what do you think they found for a door- 
bell? You’ll never guess. A great big bunch of 
sleigh-bells that jingled so loudly when Sand Man 
shook them that Billy was glad he had ear-muffs 


122 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

on. Oh, yes! I forgot to tell you that they had 
put on the warm things in the boat and Billy 
looked like a regular little Esquimau. 

And then Billy had the surprise of his life. 
Santa Claus himself opened the big front door 



and told them to “ Come in,” in a kind voice that 
seemed to have a laugh in it. Billy had expected 
rows and rows of servants to meet them and 
usher them into the presence of the great person 
as they had in the Mermaid Star; but here was 
the wonderful man himself, with his little black, 
stubby pipe and a smudge of soot on his nose, 
just as he looked in the pictures. And all at once 
Billy did n’t feel a bit afraid. He walked right up 
and said, “ Hello, Santa!” just as if he had been 
talking to one of the fellows. He didn’t even 


THE SANTA CLAUS STAR 


123 

say, “ How do you do” or “Good-evening,” as 
he always did to Sand Man. 

“ Hello, Bill,” said Santa, shaking hands. 
“ Sandy here been treating you right?” 

“Yes, indeed,” said Billy, trying hard not to 
look around at all the wonderful things he saw. 
“He ’s my good friend and we have been lots of 
places together.” 

“ That ’s what I heard, and I thought it was time 
he was bringing you here. Sometime he can bring 
you to my North Pole home, too, but I thought 
you ’d better come here before anything happened 
to his boat. It’s getting old and shaky.” 

“ This is a nice place,” said Billy, his eyes as 
big as saucers. 

“I kind of like it myself,” said Santa. “The 
world was getting so full of good children I had 
to hunt more room. The North Pole was chuck 
full of storehouses where we put all the toys we 
made and there was n’t room for one more thing, 
so I built some more new storehouses here, and 
the reindeer like it here, too, for they get a certain 
kind of juicy grass that does n’t grow on the earth 
and that is n’t killed by cold weather. Are you 
warm enough ? ” 

“Yes, indeed, thank you!” said Billy. 


124 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


“ Then come along and I ’ll show you every- 
thing.” 

They were in a beautiful place all covered with 
white, glittering snow, except one green field with 
a fence around it where eight tiny reindeer were 
grazing. There were big green pine trees every- 
where, too, — Christmas trees, you know, — 
growing right up out of the ground, and they 
were loaded with toys and tinsel things, candy 
and nuts, just like your own tree at Christmas. 
Billy could scarcely take his eyes off them, they 
looked so grand. 

“Would you like a present?” asked Santa. 
“Take anything you like.” 

“Oh, may I?” cried Billy, instantly deciding 
on a boat as big as himself that had three beauti- 
ful white sails like one he had wanted for a long 
time. 

“Yes, but we are coming back this way, so 
you had better leave it here. Come along with 
me and I ’ll show you where my storage house 
is, and the toys I have for the good children next 
Christmas.” 

Right ahead of them Billy saw a sort of hill 
which appeared to be made of solid ice. He was 
very curious about it ; it seemed rather mysteri- 


THE SANTA CLAUS STAR 125 
ous. Toward this they made their way, Santa on 
one side, Sand Man on the other, and Billy in 
the middle. Finally they reached it and Santa 
stopped, saying loudly, “ I will, O hill, that you 
take Bill!” And before he knew it Billy was 
whisked up through the air right up to the top 
of the ice hill, where there was a little flat place 
with a big brick chimney sticking out of it. He 
was wondering if he was to be left there alone, 
when all at once he heard Santa Claus down be- 
low say, “Take Sand Man, too, when you get 
through!” And in a twinkling Sand Man was 
beside him. “Now, please take me, that will 
make three!” cried Santa, again in poetry. And 
almost before the words were out of his mouth 
Santa Claus was there, too. 

“We have to slide down the chimney to get 
inside,” said Santa. “ I do it to keep in prac- 
tice ; you ’ve no idea how hard it is to get down 
some of the chimneys nowadays. Now jump to- 
gether.” And Billy found himself floating down- 
ward 'through the big chimney into the myste- 
rious ice hill, just as Alice fell down the rabbit 
hole in Wonderland. You know the story, don’t 
you? 

They went down and down, and finally landed 


126 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


gently in a great big fireplace in a most wonderful 
room. It was just like a great big store with cases 
of beautifully dressed dolls and rows of pianos 
and doll furniture and dishes for little girls. But 
as they wandered down the aisles, Billy saw all 
sorts of things for boys, too, — rocking-horses and 



soldier suits, drums and lead soldiers, battleships 
that could really shoot, and toy flying machines 
that could really fly. There were skates and sleds, 
wagons, tricycles, and real automobiles. Every- 
thing you could think of, in fact. 


THE SANTA CLAUS STAR 


127 

“ Do you see anything you like better than the 
boat, Billy?” asked Santa Claus. 

Billy shook his head. “No, sir. I ’ve wanted a 
boat just like that for ever and ever so long. U ncle 
Tom and I saw one just like it in a store one 
day.” 

“ All right, Billy. We ’ll get it when we go back 
and Sand Man can put it in his big boat for 
you.” 

They stayed a long time in the ice house, and 
while Santa and Sand Man talked about grown- 
up things Billy was allowed to play with anything 
he fancied. Then Santa told them some stories 
of his travels. But it was getting late, so after 
Santa Claus had shown him the room where his 
busy workers were making things, and the place 
where he slept, and the place where he sometimes 
kept his sleigh and reindeer, and his big sack 
hanging on a nail, he said some more magical 
words and they were whisked up the chimney and 
down the ice hill again and were soon on the road 
to the big gate. Billy got his toy boat, and Sand 
Man helped him into his cloud boat after they had 
said good-bye to Santa Claus and thanked him, 
after promising to return some day. 

And when Billy opened his eyes in his own 


128 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


little bed, lo and behold, there beside him was the 
very boat Santa had given him. Yet it looked, 
too, like the one Uncle Tom and he had seen in 
the store window. 





\ 



XII 

THE SOUTH WIND 







\ 




CHAPTER XII 

THE SOUTH WIND 

“Where to?” asked Sand Man. 

Billy had not been in the cloud boat for a long 
time, and it seemed ages since his kind little friend 
had taken him to see Santa Claus. 

To-night he was overjoyed to find himself in 
his old place with the soft comfortable cushions 
all around him. Sand Man was holding out the 
magical glasses and Billy put them on. 

“ Where to ? ” repeated Sand Man. “ I ’m going 
to let you pick your own place to-night because 
I may not get around again for a while. I ’ve just 
discovered a whole bunch of good children who 
must have rides and I ’ll tell you it ’s going to 
keep me busy. I ’ll slip off whenever I can, of 
course, and take you for a spin, but if we want to 
do any visiting we had better do it to-night. Can 
you think of any place you want to go, Billy?” 

“I don’t know,” answered Billy slowly; “any 
place at all.” 

“Tut, tut, tut, that won’t do! Now, try and 


132 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

think. Here, put on this thinking-cap. It ’s magi- 
cal just like the glasses and may be it will help 
you out.” He handed him a little round blue cap 
and Billy put it on. 

“Oh, I know!” exclaimed the little boy in- 
stantly. “ The place you spoke about the other 
night — the Star of the Four Winds! Please, 
Sand Man, may we go there?” 

“ To be sure,” said the little man. “ But if we 
visit all the winds, it would take us a day and 
fifteen hours; so how would it do for us to pick 
just one of the winds this time and leave the 
others for another trip?” 

“All right,” cried Billy, — “which one?” 

“We shall have to draw lots. Here you are.” 
Sand Man held out four little feathers and told 
Billy to take one. Billy chose a brown one all 
speckled with black. “What does it say?” asked 
Sand Man. 

Billy spied a tiny paper tied to the end of the 
feather and on it was a name. 

“ South Wind ! ” he cried. 

“ Good ! ” said Sand Man. “ I was hoping it 
would be that, for I ’m sort of chilly. I have been 
afraid of tonsillitis this changeable weather, and 
that suits me just finely. Now, give me the 


THE SOUTH WIND 133 

thinking-cap and I ’ll put it back into my magical 
pocket; the feather, too, and I ’ll put it away.” 

Sand Man looked at a compass he always car- 
ried. “South by southeast,” he muttered as he 
turned the boat. “All aboard for the Star of the 



Winds. All aboard ! ” he called, and Billy laughed 
delightedly. 

“ This is better than playing train on the back 
stairs,” he said. 

“You’re just right,” grinned Sand Man. Just 
then a great gust of wind set the boat to rocking 
so violently that Billy almost fell out, and some- 
thing whizzed past with a roar. Sand Man shiv- 
ered. “There goes North Wind, so let’s hurry. 
It’s better to go when he isn’t at home. They 


134 CLOUD BOAT STORIES 

are all so jealous of each other, these winds, es- 
pecially the North and South Winds, and I hate 
to cause trouble. You ’ll like South Wind, Billy. 
East Wind is the limit, though, always crying; 
and West Wind is really quite fierce, always 
boasting and blustering. But I ’ll let you judge 
for yourself. It is n’t far now.” 

They reached the star in a few minutes and 
Sand Man tied his boat. The big gate was wide 
open, so they went right in. 

It certainly was a queer-looking country, with 
two wide roads crossing it in the middle so that 
it looked like a big parchesi board. The four 
corners were the homes of the winds, and you 
would not have had to guess long which was 
which. 

A great palace all covered with ice and snow 
and surrounded by trees with bare, black limbs 
was where North Wind lived ; a dismal, gray- 
looking house with a thundercloud over it was 
where East Wind lived ; and a great, rambling, 
old place almost shaken to pieces, with broken 
windows and torn curtains and awnings, belonged 
to the rowdy West Wind. But Billy and Sand 
Man were making their way toward a beautiful 
white house with green shutters, that had red and 


THE SOUTH WIND 135 

pink roses climbing over it everywhere. The 
perfume was very sweet, and already Billy was 
sniffing. 

“ South Wind’s house,” announced Sand Man. 

The sky here was bright and blue and the 
grass was very green and covered with millions 
of tiny flowers. Besides, there were fountains of 
clear water splashing among the trees and they 
could hear birds singing sweetly and see the flash 
of their wings as they flew about. 

“ What a nice place ! ” cried Billy. 

“ Thank you ! ” said a sweet, musical voice, and 
at the same time Billy felt a pair of lips soft and 
warm and fragrant pressed against his cheek. 

“Who — who is it?” he asked, surprised, for 
he could not see anything but a sort of white 
mist that floated all around him. 

“This is my friend Billy Ferguson, South 
Wind,” said Sand Man, smiling, as if there was 
a joke about it. 

Then Billy saw the white mist taking form and 
becoming plainer. 

And before he knew it the most beautiful 
lady stood before him, all dressed in misty, 
white, floating robes that blew gently about her. 
In her long, golden hair were flowers, in her eyes 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


136 

was reflected the blue of the sky, and her smiling 
lips were very, very red. 

“I love you!” said Billy frankly. “You are 
the prettiest lady I ever saw — except Mamma.” 

And all at once a strange thing happened to 
Billy. South Wind gathered him up in her warm, 
white arms and flew away with him. She took him 
on the most wonderful journey. First they went 
down deep into the heart of a red rose, and South 
Wind gave him a drink of dew; then she fed 
him honey from the hollyhocks, and gave him a 


































» • 

. 

































































































THE SOUTH WIND 137 

ride up and down on a tall, white lily stem. When 
he was tired, she gave him a drink of poppy juice 
and rocked him in her arms while he slept, and 
when he awakened she put him on the back of a 
large turtle and gave him a ride across the water 
in a fountain. 

And the birds talked to him and told him tales 
of their travels until he forgot about everything 
else in the world — or in the sky. Time flew 
very fast to the little boy in this wonderful 
place. 

“ Billy! ” cried Sand Man, “where in the world 
are you ? We must be going home.” 

And just then Billy came riding by on a big 
pink flamingo with South Wind floating alongside. 

“ Here I am ! ” cried Billy. “ South Wind says 
I must come again. Will you bring me, Sand 
Man ? ” 

“Sure I will,” agreed his friend, “when the 
busy season is over and I have more time.” He 
lifted Billy gently off the bird, and South Wind 
kissed the little boy good-bye. 

“ Don’t forget me, Billy,” she said wistfully. 

“ I ’ll love you always ! ” cried Billy, flinging 
his arms impetuously around her neck. “ Good- 
bye.” 


CLOUD BOAT STORIES 


138 

Sand Man took his hand, and together they 
passed down the road and through the wide gate 
where the cloud boat was anchored. 































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